Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms

Rating:
Summary: An excellent starting point for new students of poetry
Review: I have to confess that I haven't read this edition of the Poetry Handbook, but I still have the 1962 edition I had to buy in high school -- battered and rebound, but still highly useful. Whereas books like the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics are wonderful for those already familiar with the subject and looking to deepen their knowledge, Babette Deutsch's dictionary of terms is perfect for those students whose experience of poetry is limited to Hallmark cards and whose understanding of poetics is nil. Having just discovered that the book is still in print and now in its fourth edition, and, better yet, available through Amazon, I will recommend it to all my Freshman Comp II students (and, for that matter, to my literature students) as an approachable and useful starting point for the study of poetry.